All things Football (soccer) related

[rico21]

me of course [:D]

[warspite1]

I should be childishly happy about the Arsenal result (and moreover the performance) but that result against Burnley has stopped me even enjoying that!!

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: loki100

I really hate football ...

warspite1

Rubbish game, total and utter rubbish. Although can be quite good I understand if you don't support Spursey...

Who will finish lower this season - Spursey or Arsenal?

well I'd rather have our indifferent start ... where small bits of luck may have been critical ... than theirs ... where it all seems so systemic now. I think the challenge for Spurs is to get through this season with minimal long term damage - keep the core of the team - and hope a return to WHL sets things up for a return to the recent feeling of progress? I'm just not sure what Arsenal can do differently - given where they are now.

I actually feel sorry for Wenger, he shifted the whole basis of English football when he arrived, he mostly tries to create watcheable teams (ok he is also annoying at his ability to miss one of his players conducting an act of vivisection on the pitch). He really doesn't deserve the excess of angst that he is now going to get.

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: Orm

England has one of the great Football leagues in Europe. Or even in the world. England also has a long, and great football history. And England has a tradition of qualifying to the major national football tournaments. All in all England is a great football nation.

Europa League has 48 teams remaining.

Champions League has 32 teams remaining.

So all in all there are still 80 teams that compete in Europe this season. Out of these England has all their 7 teams remaining.

So now I wonder. Out of these 80 teams, how many have a English Manager?

I am asking because I heard someone claim that there was only one English manager left in the European Cups. And that manager coached a Swedish team. And I thought that sounded a bit to saddening for comfort if it were true.

[warspite1]

English managers are a rare breed - certainly in the Premiership. They have been so for some time. I think Wilkinson was the last to win the top division - with Leeds back in 1992. Scottish managers have been reasonably successful - although of course Ferguson bump that success rate up significantly. Foreign managers are all the rage which means English managers get less opportunity. It is not always the right move......

[shunwick]

Yes. It has become fashionable for Premier League teams, and Championship teams with Premier League aspirations, to hire foreign coaches. Also, English football managers are a different breed from the continental system of Head Coach. English, or rather British managers, mainly ply their trade in the Football League and lower and they have very little chance of getting Head Coach jobs in the Premier League.

Antonio Conte, for example, is not the manager of Chelsea - not in the English sense - he is their Head Coach and many of the functions of "manager" have been moved to backroom staff. Large clubs have large encampments of backroom staff from media specialists to data analysts to investment advisors etc. Who is the Chelsea manager? Can't be bothered to find out but he or she has little input into how the first team plays. That part is handled by the Head Coach.

The Premier League is a fantasy land, a billionaire's playground. Image, style, and status are the main drivers.

Who in the Premier League, would hire Ernie Thistlewood, the chain smoking, overweight, and sweaty 53 year old who revolutionised football at Grimsby rather than Oscar de la Fuego, the 38 year old up and coming in-thing who once scored a goal against Barcelona, drives a Ferrari and looks good on camera? I don't mean to belittle foreign coaches. The point is that no matter how good a manager Ernie Thistlewood is, and he may be a tactical mastermind, he stands little chance of job in the Premier League.

Image, style, and status. All the things I am good at.

Life is still good in Braintree. [:)]

Best wishes,
Steve

[VPaulus]

UK used to "export" a lot of managers during the 70's and the 80's to the European leagues.
They were some of the finest coaches... I often think about this too, what happened meanwhile?
Where are the Bobby Robson's of today?

[shunwick]

ORIGINAL: VPaulus

UK used to "export" a lot of managers during the 70's and the 80's to the European leagues.
They were some of the finest coaches... I often think about this too, what happened meanwhile?
Where are the Bobby Robson's of today?

Bobby Robson is very good example.

Part of the problem today is that British professional footballers in the Premier League are thin on the ground and when they hang up their boots, they are already multi-millionaires. Very few of them want to learn the trade of managing a football club. They simply don't want to go to Grimsby, or Exeter to learn the trade. Either they want a high profile position (as an untried manager/head coach) or else they don't want the headaches associated with managing a football club. Being a pundit on TV pays better, is less of a headache and they can still hit the headlines when they call x, y, or z a disgrace to the profession.

Lesser known players who wish to stay in the game, take their coaching badges and get jobs managing the less-fashionable clubs that make up the British game. They stand little chance of a Premier League job irrespective of how much experience they have or how good they actually are.

A few still go abroad and are generally very successful but they tend to go very far afield.

What happened meanwhile? The fantasy land of the Premier League and the obscene wealth of it. It destroyed the national team and severely limits the opportunities of British players and managers alike.

Don't get me wrong, the Premier League is great fun to watch. It just appallingly bad for the development of British talent at the highest level.

The English Football League and the National League are both enjoying an upsurge of interest from football fans across the country. And managers don't have to listen to player's endless whining about how their favourite hair stylist doesn't understand them.

Best wishes,
Steve

[Orm]

Thank you for your insightful thoughts. [&o] [:)]

And I understand the points made about the Premier League. But why, then, isn't there a export of English managers to other leagues? Could it be because they are paid more than enough as third assistant coach in a average premier league club? No point in moving where you do not get more pay, but you get a more insecure position? And therefore the English managers do not seek a carrier abroad?

[shunwick]

ORIGINAL: Orm

Thank you for your insightful thoughts. [&o] [:)]

And I understand the points made about the Premier League. But why, then, isn't there a export of English managers to other leagues? Could it be because they are paid more than enough as third assistant coach in a average premier league club? No point in moving where you do not get more pay, but you get a more insecure position? And therefore the English managers do not seek a carrier abroad?

I think that's right. Whether or not there is a clear progression from third assistant coach to head coach remains to be seen. Gareth Southgate would appear to be the general model.

We may be just witnessing the lull between the ending of a playing career (early 30's) and the forging of a new head coach (mid 40's to mid 50's). That's an optimistic view though and there is no evidence that English clubs have that kind of systemic planning in place or that ex-Premier League footballers are that bothered with the merry-go-round.

As for why more British managers don't go abroad for work, from the Football League down you run into the island nation mentality... it means learning a new language, getting used to a new culture, and getting used to a different footballing culture. I am willing to bet that most Football League and National League managers voted for Brexit.

Best wishes,
Steve

[shunwick]

Lloyd's back from his stint in Edinburgh... enjoy...

Every Premier League Fan in 90 Seconds Week 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIYJScg-BJc

Best wishes,
Steve

[VPaulus]

ORIGINAL: shunwick

As for why more British managers don't go abroad for work, from the Football League down you run into the island nation mentality... it means learning a new language, getting used to a new culture, and getting used to a different footballing culture.

The three English managers that have coached my Portuguese team (CF Belenenses), only one (John Mortimere) learned Portuguese. With Jimmy Melia and Jimmy Hagan I don't recall have heard them speaking a word in Portuguese. Jimmy Hagan the only two words he would say were "No comments". All of them stayed several years (with success) in Portugal. Not only they have adapted to our culture but also brought new ideas, new concepts to the Portuguese football.
Maybe they are a little more "lazy" today, but English managers brought a lot to football.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: shunwick

Lloyd's back from his stint in Edinburgh... enjoy...

Every Premier League Fan in 90 Seconds Week 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIYJScg-BJc

Best wishes,
Steve

warspite1

Good to have him back. Arsenal, Brighton, Bournemouth are all good [:)]

[shunwick]

Transfer deadline day in sunny Britain... Let the madness begin....

Sanchez and Coutinho press conferences...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks5kYMllR2w

Best wishes,
Steve

[warspite1]

Very funny. Nicely observed comedy - particularly the Sanchez one.

[warspite1]

Has anyone spotted Harry Redknapp leaning his head out of his car yet?

[shunwick]

ORIGINAL: VPaulus

ORIGINAL: shunwick

As for why more British managers don't go abroad for work, from the Football League down you run into the island nation mentality... it means learning a new language, getting used to a new culture, and getting used to a different footballing culture.

The three English managers that have coached my Portuguese team (CF Belenenses), only one (John Mortimere) learned Portuguese. With Jimmy Melia and Jimmy Hagan I don't recall have heard them speaking a word in Portuguese. Jimmy Hagan the only two words he would say were "No comments". All of them stayed several years (with success) in Portugal. Not only they have adapted to our culture but also brought new ideas, new concepts to the Portuguese football.
Maybe they are a little more "lazy" today, but English managers brought a lot to football.

Those three managers are all old school. In their playing careers, they played at the top level.

There is no question that England produced some very good managers, we still do but as players they are effectively barred from the top level and as managers they now ply their trade in the EFL and VNL. A few still get exported although the tendency these days is to go further afield than Europe: Napal, Guam, India etc and they are, in general, very successful ... but there is no movement en masse.

At the top level though, the evidence so far is that the pampered princes of the Premier League either leave the game, court the "meedja", or enter into a kind of voluntary zoochosis; exotic breeds thriving only in the rarefied stratosphere of high fantasy and camouflaged by corporate identity.

Football in England, for players, managers, and fans, is very much alive and well. And, as a bonus, we get to watch the pretties for a few minutes before the film starts.

Best wishes,
Steve

[shunwick]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Has anyone spotted Harry Redknapp leaning his head out of his car yet?

Not yet, but it will come.

Best wishes,
Steve

[warspite1]

So let's recap. We have bought a right-back with an attitood and disciplinary problem, a goalkeeper that Danny Rose will need to Google, and two central defenders, one of whom is 12 years old and also requires an internet search function.....

Right....so that'll solve our problem of being unable to unlock defences...

[shunwick]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

So let's recap. We have bought a right-back with an attitood and disciplinary problem, a goalkeeper that Danny Rose will need to Google, and two central defenders, one of whom is 12 years old and also requires an internet search function.....

Right....so that'll solve our problem of being unable to unlock defences...

Well, at the other end of the table, Chelsea are have having trouble attracting players as well...

Best wishes,
Steve

Late news: UEFA have just opened a formal investigation of PSG under the Fair Play Rules following their recent transfer activity. One wonders about the outcome of any investigation. Whitewash anyone?

Late, late news: I have just watched Malta v England. You can certainly understand why Neymar went for £200m, since £35m can't even buy you a player with a first touch...

And then there is this: Why are Premier League fans converting to non-league?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHlSAbSzOJw

Late, late, late news: Life is still good in Braintree...